VOA标准英语2010年-'The Ghost Writer' Provides Tale of Hi

The political thriller¹, The Ghost Writer, earned controversial director Roman Polanski top honors in February at the Berlin Film Festival. Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor co-star in the 'ripped-from-the-headlines' tale of high-level international intrigue² adapted from the novel by Robert Harris. 

Adam Lang is a former British prime minister. Immensely popular while in office, he remains³ active in world politics and wants to get his version of his legacy⁴ into print. That's where The Ghost Writer comes in.

He's been hired to finish the job started by another writer who died under mysterious circumstances. Accident or murder? Or perhaps it is fallout from the memoir's bombshell revelations.

The events making headlines date back to British involvement with the United States in a Middle East military action. The echoes of real people and recent events certainly intrigued⁵ Pierce Brosnan, who plays Lang. The Irish-born actor turned to director Roman Polanski for guidance.

"My first question was 'am I playing Tony Blair,' because all indication and all roads seemed to lead to one man only and that's Tony Blair," Brosnan said. "He said 'no, you're not playing Tony Blair.' However, I have to start somewhere as an actor and I looked at the performance of Tony Blair as prime minister, I looked at Tony Blair in public interviews and I was liberated⁶ somewhat by Roman saying I am not playing him."

Ewan McGregor in 'The Ghost Writer'

Ewan McGregor co-stars as the title character who is never named in the script and just referred to as "the ghost." The Scottish actor says the political content was not important to his portrayal⁷.

"When you are reading a script for a character you read it much more looking through the eyes of that guy," he said. "So I was looking through the eyes of "the ghost" and I wasn't that aware of the political impact of the piece. It is not really until you see it finished; and current events and the real world get closer and closer to the story line of our film every day. Then you see the more political angle on the piece.

McGregor found working under director Polanski to be a tough, but satisfying creative challenge.

Director Roman Polanski on set of 'The Ghost Writer'

"I was the luckiest of all the actors in that I was on set from day one through the very last day of shooting," he said. "I got an opportunity to watch him work on set for four months. He drives you quite hard …he pushes you quite hard, Roman …and you're called upon to look for great detail [and] look for the truth of a scene. He doesn't worry about how long a scene is. He just wants you to move from point to point as honestly as possible and find the fine details that make something very realistic.

Most of the action takes place on a resort island off the Massachusetts coast, but The Ghost Writer was shot in Germany because Roman Polanski faces arrest if he enters the United States.In fact, while he was still finishing the film, Polanski was apprehended⁸ by Swiss authorities acting⁹ on an arrest warrant from California, the place the director fled in 1978 when he was about to be sentenced for unlawful sexual conduct with a 13-year-old girl. Brosnan finds a lot of the director's own life reflected in the film's characters.

"You can't help but go to the isolation¹⁰ of my character living in exile," he said. "You look at Polanski and the life that he has led, looking over the shoulder and constantly in motion. The films that he has made all have the theme of isolation and claustrophobia and certainly a kind of foreboding atmosphere of life. So he uses himself, constantly, it seems."

The Ghost Writer also features Olivia Williams as the ex-prime minister's wife and political advisor¹¹; Kim Cattrall plays his svelte¹² personal assistant; Tom Wilkinson is a shadowy connection to the world of espionage¹³; and 94-year-old Eli Wallach plays a local resident of the island who helps fill in some important clues for the puzzled writer. The screenplay, written by director Polanski and author Robert Harris, is adapted from Harris's 2007 novel The Ghost.
 

1 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

2 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

5 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

6 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

7 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

8 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

11 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

12 svelte   

adj.（女人）体态苗条的

参考例句：

• The countess was tall,svelte and very pale.伯爵夫人身材修长，苗条优雅，面色十分苍白。
• Her figure is svelte.她身材苗条。

13 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。